Suggestion 2013/01/21(Mon)10:19 No. 486694 ID: 849800
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This quest is loosely based on Dungeons and Dragons 3.x

This is your chance to choose a path! All paths have about the same power, hence the word "loosely." Your path determines your starting class. The rest is up to you!

>loosely based on Dungeons and Dragons 3.x
Magic is often used for combat and stealth. And stealth can be used for combat (ninja). so I am guessing its a rogue v wizard v warrior type question? But rebalenced with lots of houserules...

How about a magic ninja? Cast a spell to see at night, silence and invisibility (or at least concealness; at night) and sneak up on someone to slit their throat at night. Kinda like dishonored but without the steampunk. I am not sure how well it would work with DnD engine though.

I choose MAAAAAAAAGIC. Let's go be a wizard who studies the Far Realms.

Magellan 2013/01/21(Mon)11:38 No. 486713 ID: 849800
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>>486699
How about a magic ninja?

That's definitely an option if you decide on stealth.

Magic. You summon sneaky or stabby stuff as necessary, and you can also do stuff that is useful for noncriminal tasks.

Magellan 2013/01/21(Mon)19:43 No. 486787 ID: cb3c4f
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You've chosen the path of magic. That makes you a wizard!

??? gained Spellcasting!
??? gained a familiar!
??? gained Scribe Scroll!


"Ah, so you're a wizard like me!" Magellan beams.

"That will make you very popular around here! And what are your strengths? And I still haven't caught your name...?"

It's time to choose your stats! You have 40 points to distribute to your stats. The stats are (Str)ength, (Dex)terity, (Con)stitution, (Int)elligence, (Wis)dom, and (Cha)risma. Int is the primary and most important stat for a wizard, Con is important for any character, and Dex is useful for dodging attacks and hitting with a ranged weapon. Str is good for hitting people and lifting things, Wis determines how well you resist mental effects (which you can do that well already), and Cha makes it easier to make people do what you want. The scores you can choose, points it costs, and net bonus are as follows:

Score 7, -4 points, -2 bonus
Score 8, -2 points, -1 bonus
Score 9, -1 points, -1 bonus
Score 10, 0 points, +0 bonus
Score 11, 1 points, +0 bonus
Score 12, 2 points, +1 bonus
Score 13, 3 points, +1 bonus
Score 14, 5 points, +2 bonus
Score 15, 7 points, +2 bonus
Score 16, 10 points, +3 bonus
Score 17, 13 points, +3 bonus
Score 18, 17 points, +4 bonus

The total for all six stats should be <=40.

It's also time to pick skills! Here's a list of the skills and the abilities that give them bonuses:

*Acrobatics (Dex)
*Bluff (Cha)
Climb (Str)
*Craft (Int)
*Diplomacy (Cha)
Disable Device (Dex)
Disguise (Cha)
*Escape Artist (Dex)
Handle Animal (Cha)
Intimidate (Cha)
*Knowledge (Arcana) (Int)
*Knowledge (Dungeoneering) (Int)
*Knowledge (Engineering) (Int)
*Knowledge (Geography) (Int)
*Knowledge (History) (Int)
*Knowledge (Local) (Int)
*Knowledge (Nature) (Int)
*Knowledge (Nobility) (Int)
*Knowledge (Planes) (Int)
*Knowledge (Religion) (Int)
*Perception (Wis)
Perform (Cha)
*Ride (Dex)
*Sense Motive (Wis)
Sleight of Hand (Dex)
*Spellcraft (Int)
Stealth (Dex)
Survival (Wis)
Swim (Str)
Use Magic Device (Cha)

The skills with a * are class skills for you! If you put a rank in them, you get a +3 bonus. Since you're a wizard, you get 6 + your Int bonus in skill ranks. Since you're level 1, you can put 1 rank maximum in each skill. For what the skills do , check out this page: http://pathfinderrpg.wikidot.com/skills

Last are feats! You can pick 3, and they can be anything legal in 3.5. For a short list, see this page: http://www.d20srd.org/indexes/feats.htm

"By the way, try this on. Some people take offense to walking around naked, for whatever reason..."

Well, normally I abhor minmaxing. However, we're a 3.5 wizard. I suggest we put everything into CHA, INT, and WIS, then max out bluff, sense motive, concentration and Spellcraft. Sure we'll be about as strong as bread mold, but we'll be able to out talk trickster gods and outmagic Megasatan.

Also, our race should be doppleganger or gibbering mouther. Because those are awesome

40 points:
-17 int 18 (wizard! also skillpoints!)
-10 con 16 (not dying is fun! you run daily)
-5 wis 14 (common sense is not that common)
-5 dex 14 (too many spells require manual aiming. You practice that, and dodging enemy blows is good too!)
-3 Str 13 (from all the running, carry more gear into combat, hold on to cliff edge, etc. cha is useless)
0 Cha 10 (since when are nerds great looking? an extra +1 to skills from 13 doesn't really matter)

You perform aerobic exercise (running) every day to keep in shape (con and str).
You do target practice with cantrips for all those manual aim spells, missing a disintegrate sucks! (dex)
You are smart enough to have come up with the above plans for your education and exercise (int)

10 (6 + 4 int mod) skills:

*Acrobatics (Dex)
*Bluff (Cha)
*Diplomacy (Cha)
*Knowledge (Arcana) (Int)
*Knowledge (Religion) (Int)
*Knowledge (Planes) (Int)
*Perception (Wis)
*Sense Motive (Wis)
*Spellcraft (Int)
*Escape Artist (Dex) - escape grapple in combat.

>>486873
pathfinder actually, concentration isn't an option. See his post and link.
>>486874
The level adjustment is high on those, which will cripple us as a wizard.

What is our race actually? if it has an int bonus that's another skill point to choose. unless...
>An adventurous young man
Could mean human male rather then just male of some humanoid spcies.

normally you would put the +2 into int, but we got rather generous 40 point build so its probably already included.

An adventurous young bugbear man. Hruggek's Ninja Temple needs us to figure out this "Wizard" business pronto.

Wait... Perception? Acrobatics? Is this actually Pathfinder?

>>486931
Probably houseruled, he only explicitly said
>loosely based on Dungeons and Dragons 3.x
and then linked to a pathfinder wiki for skill details so it is probably not exact vanilla RAW pathfinder. (which is fine)

Diferences so far seem to be we get 6+int instead of 2+int skill points.
We get a higher point buy instead of racial +2 attribute.
And we get more class skills even as a wizard.

>>486908

> pathfinder actually, concentration isn't an option.

> The level adjustment is high on those

Neither the concentration skill nor LA exist in Pathfinder.

>>486950
WOO! Doppleganger Wizards ahoy!

I dunno, we could get a lot of mileage out of being one of the monsters that can Charm or Suggestion at will.

By the way, I endorse MrTT's skill picks. Those knowledge skills will come in very handy.

Magellan 2013/01/23(Wed)03:01 No. 487104 ID: 45d5bf
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>>486908
Your race (and male gender) is the one thing already chosen. You'll have to figure out for yourselves what it is though ;)

>>486931
The skills are Pathfinder. You can assume everything else is 3.5 unless I say otherwise (don't worry, I'll make it clear).

"Confused? Let's get you straightened out. A bit of compromise seems to be in order. It seems like you're having trouble deciding on feats, why don't I give you a hand? What do you think of this?"

??? gained a character sheet!

>Feats
Ah, didn't notice you said to pick 3 (I thought it comes later).

Eschew Materials - good choice, losing your magic because you ran out of batshit (fireball) or rose petals (sleep) sucks. Its either extremely useful or useless depending on how strict the DM is and how much you roleplay.
Improved Initiative - always useful
Skill focus (spellcraft) - I was gonna say this is useless (with read magic being level 0 spell, its only used to invent new spells or counterspell) but in pathfinder it apparently also includes all uses of concentration. So excellent choice!

So, all 3 feats are excellent choices and should be eventually acquired.

However for level 1 I would really like to replace Improved Initiative with Improved Familiar. Strictly speaking investing in a familiar is terrible for min-maxing. But from a roleplay perspective it could be fun and if you are permanently binding your soul to something, it might as well be something awesome.

Improved familiar only gets good when you can get higher-level familiars with useful SLAs and the ability to maybe take a hit. And it should let us swap familiars then.

Spellcraft is only a worthwhile choice if we can do skill-based ritual magic too. We could put that skill focus into stuff like Fleet that would let us escape... wait, not-pathfinder. Okay, we could start to pick up metamagic

>>487142
In regular 3e (don't know about pathfinder) there is a huge unrecoverable XP penalty as well as having to wait a year and day before you can take a new familiar.
This applies whether the old one died or was dismissed.
If you want a good familiar you are supposed to simply wait on getting a familiar until you are the right level. So we can take the feat now or later but we need to wait until we meet all requirements to get the familiar. You also need to actually acquire the familiar prior to the bind so we would have to quest for it if its too exotic.
So I guess it really depends on what is the level requirement; we could wait until level 3 to take the feat (since improved initiative is immediately useful) as long as the familiar we want has a min level of 3 or more (if it has a min level of 2 it will force us to wait another level to get the feat).

Which raises the question of, which familiar to take?

Also, if we were overly concerned about min-maxing we would ditch the familiar entirely (ideal minmax is trading it for an actually useful class feature. Otherwise take a basic one for the bonus and pretend it doesn't exist beyond that)

However, while less useful then anything else a wizard can get or do, they are cool and can be fun to play with so I suggest we keep them.

>Spellcraft
1. What ritual skill based magic?
2. The concentration rollup is why its good. +3 to casting defensively checks and to avoid getting a spell disrupted by damage, grapple, etc is nothing to sneeze at. Having your spells disrupted sucks.

>Metamagic
Metamagic is pretty meh unless we are given some game breaking feats like Arcane Thesis.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/specialistWizardVariants.htm

If we play a Necromancer, familiar loss won't bone us if we go for a skeleton.

Metamagic will be important if we go for a scorching ray build or want to make free zombies at level 5 with Fell Animate acid splash.

At late levels, Sudden Quicken is great.

Which is the book with the conjurer variant that gets immediate action teleports?

>>487154
0. You are absolutely right, if the skeleton minion is destroyed you only lose 100gp.
1. Necromancers are a wee bit evil
2. The most specialized necromancer wizard is never as good a necromancer as any evil cleric (or neutral one that chose negative spec rather then positive spec) of the same level who never bothered spending a single feat on necromancy focus. The term "nercomancer" is really misleading for the wizard school. It should have been called "Negative-energy-mancer" but that doesn't roll off the tongue. Wizard "necromancers" are really really good at killing people, they have some of the best combat spells in the game.
3. The skeleton minion isn't actually a familiar but an ACF (alternative class feature) that you can get by trading in your familiar. So it's not actually contradicting my statements. (although you might have just been agreeing with me and suggesting a specific?)

@Author: You linked to pathfinder for skills but to 3.5 for feats. Improved familiar is a feat but the one in the SRD kinda sucks. There is just no selection. And any familiar printed from alternative sources require a DIFFERENT feat rather then improved familiar (dragon familiar, celestial familiar, fey familiar, golem familiar, item familiar, etc); those are not in addition to improved familiar, but INSTEAD of it.
Pathfinder on the other hand gives out a huge list of optional familiars to choose from for improved familiar (and from glancing at the list it seems to roll most of the <X familiar> type feats into improved familiar).
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/improved-familiar

So, what are our options for familiar here?

>>487156
1. Metamagic rayblasting depends on pretty broken feats being allowed by DM. As does the free zombies trick.
2. Overly focused on being a 1 trick pony

>Sudden quicken
Waste of feat, a rod of quicken gives you 3x that feat per day.

>Which is the book with the conjurer variant that gets immediate action teleports?
Abrupt Jaunt from PHB2 page68-69.
Its an ACF for Conjurer specialist wizards, they trade in their familiar and instead get to teleport 10 feet as an immediate action INT-mod times per day.

Am I the only one who actually wants to play a generalist wizard?

Why would I play a generalist wizard when I could play an Uttercold Assault necromancer and dance around in blue firewalls with my skeleton bros as we heal double-digit HP each round?

But I suppose I could work with a generalist if we had some cool PrC options. Abjurant Champion is another pretty nice path we could shoot for.

If we play a conjurer, our name is Chuck Testa. When someone attacks us, we go "NOPE" and 'port out of the way.

I want this. Could we spend a feat to get extra uses?

>>487165
>Why generalist
A generalist wizard can dominate 2-3 level appropriate encounters per day.
A specialist can dominate 3-4 level appropriate encounters per day at the cost of 2/9th of its versatility (8 schools + universal spells = 9 schools).

>Super slaughter build
Fighting isn't everything you know.

>>487180
>Fighting isn't everything you know.
Absolutely. Skeleton bros are great for cutting costs building your wizard castle. With a little applied knowledge, you can even use a bunch of skeletons as a crude switchboard computer.

>>487183
Ok that is true... but think of the EVIL!!! Do you want to play an evil person?

actually... specialist wizards in pathfinder don't actually have forbidden schools, you can still cast spells from opposing schools. So, again we need clarification from Author.

Magellan 2013/01/23(Wed)20:43 No. 487232 ID: 6eaf6f
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(At this point I think you understand the basics, so I'm going to shift toward answering questions within the story.)

>>487152
there is a huge unrecoverable XP penalty as well as having to wait a year and day before you can take a new familiar.

"Well, I've seen people get one without all that hassle, and I can show you how when you get stronger, if you want."

>>487162
So, what are our options for familiar here?

"No worries about that my boy, there's plenty of options! I have a few books I could show you..."

He gestures to a bookshelf and a few volumes inch out. With your keen perception, you immediately spot Serpent Kingdoms, Complete Warrior, and Book of Exalted Deeds. You get the impression that you have a wide range of choices.

>>487167
Could we spend a feat to get extra uses?

Magellan puts a finger to his chin and raises an eyebrow.

"That's certainly something that... could be possible." He says, before several flying books hit him in the face.

"Oph!"

>>487184
forbidden schools

"Ah, yes, specializing requires forbidding some schools. Balance of magic and whatnot. I myself am a conjuror, and have forgone the enchantment and evocation schools. Heh, and they laughed when I said I could cast a fireball. HAH HAH! ...er, sorry. Nevermind that."

Alright, this fellow seems like an upstanding sort. We should be a conjurer like him, and forgo familiars for the power of NOPE. Getting stabbed is unstylish.

Illusions are nice, but they are also kind of dickish a lot of the time. More so than necromancy, from my perspective. And evocation is easy to duplicate using other schools. Those are my recommendations for banned schools.

Enchantment is something we should hold onto, since it will help dealing with outsiders we summon with Planar Bindings later. And we should have something to offer Magellan that he doesn't already have.

>>487232
>"Well, I've seen people get one without all that hassle, and I can show you how when you get stronger, if you want."
Sorry, I was referring to if your familiar is killed or is intentionally dismissed (treated the same way). Not for getting one in the first place

Magellan 2013/01/24(Thu)02:08 No. 487307 ID: 010260
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>>487306
"Ah, yes, that will happen. Familiars are quite useful, but you certainly want to keep them out of combat."

>Serpent Kingdoms, Complete Warrior, and Book of Exalted Deeds
So, DnD style, that means choosing "Improved Familiar" is bad, if we want a better familiar we should INSTEAD choose a feat SPECIFIC to that familiar kind. For example to get an eladrin coure we would take Celestial Familiar feat not improved familiar.

>Specialize
If we specialize, transmutation and conjuration are the schools to go to. Divination is a maybe as it only requires banning one school (that depends on having access to the right source books to make divination not suck though).

Ban enchantment and evocation!

Enchantment: 1st choice to ban! This is the most powerful and broken school by far... And yet at higher levels pretty much everything you face is going to be flat out immune to the entire school with no way to ever breach said immunity. In addition, even at low level all enemy casters could grant temporarily and dispellable total immunity to this school. When a 9th level spell can be stopped by a 1st level one you have a problem.

Evocation: Near ideal to ban, the only things of worth from it are contingency and force effects. The thing is, losing contingency hurts.

Illusion: Actually a bad idea to ban, a ton of powerful things that are irrevocably immune to enchantment automatically fail all saves against illusion spells! Using a level 1 spell to stop an epic enemy in its tracks FTW. furthermore illusions can duplicate evocation spells and conjuration.

Necromancy has lots of junk spells combined with some godly combat spells and a few utility spells you don't want to miss (clone and soul jar) but can actually do without; its generally better then evocation.

Alright, I seem to be in the minority here (and magellan is actively encouraging it) and am just delaying the inevitable so I give in.
Conjurer it is then, with evocation and enchantment banned, just like magellan. (well, one guy wanted to ban illusion instead of evocation; but see my previous argument as to why not)
Take improved initiative as suggested by magellan and trade in the familiar for abrupt jaunt.

Golems and skeletons might be immune to enchantment, but they aren't immune to being sworded by the hound archon you called up with Planar Binding and then charmed.

Then again, we already have Diplomacy, so enchantment won't be a huge loss.

>>487394
All archons are immune to enchantment. :)

They all have a su ability for an always on magic circle against evil, which renders them immune to any mind affecting or compulsion spell, aka all enchantment.

Alike the other trait of the spell. The mind protection aspects of the "protection from <alignment>" chain (including the first level spell) all provide the mind protection effect regardless of the source of the mind effect. So even if you are good yourself you couldn't enchant them.

Being a su ability it cannot be suppressed by anything short of an anti-magic field which would also stop the enchantment spell.

Objection! http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/protectionFromEvil.htm

Protection from Evil only blocks enchantments that grant ongoing control. Charm Monster changes disposition, but does not grant ongoing control.

>Charm Monster changes disposition, but does not grant ongoing control.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/charmMonster.htm
>Enchantment (Charm) [Mind-Affecting]
>Duration: One day/level
It is ongoing.

Furthermore:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/protectionFromEvil.htm
>the barrier blocks any attempt to possess the warded creature (by a magic jar attack, for example) or to exercise mental control over the creature (including enchantment (charm) effects and enchantment (compulsion) effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject

It blocks ANY effect INCLUDING those that grant ongoing control. So non ongoing control effects are still blocked. Ongoing effect spells are still on the target but they are suppressed (as per FAQ), if the protection from X spell expires first then the moment it expires the enchantment asserts itself.

See http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159089

>>487468
Charm Person/Monster doesn't grant control over the subject or allow you to possess them, ergo it's exempt. Dominate Person, on the other hand, is not.

>(including enchantment (charm) effects and enchantment (compulsion) effects that grant the caster ongoing control over the subject)

>including enchantment (charm)

[b]>CHARM MONSTER

Lets get the feat that lets us use Necrotic Cyst. It's worth it.

Can't you use cyst magic to control people? Well, that's one way to bypass losing all the value of Enchantment with regards to armies of troll and hill giant minions.

>>487568
While awesomely powerful (many argue broken powerful).
I am against this on the grounds of it being very evil and horrific.

>Can't you use cyst magic to control people?
You can. Protection from X spells protect against infecting someone with a cyst, but if that person is already infected then protection from X does NOT protect against said spells, since they are targeting the cyst not the person.
Infecting someone with a cyst is a 1st level spell. A 4th level spell lets you empower a cyst to attack the victim's brain (explicitly ignoring protection from alignment).
The victim makes a save... if they succeed on the save their brain is partially subverted and are compelled to do things within limits. If they fail the save then enough of the critical portions of the brain are replaced by the cyst such that it has perfect and permanent control over the body. They are still aware enough to attempt futile resistance but the cyst is in full control irrevocably.

Magellan 2013/01/25(Fri)19:59 No. 487634 ID: 304df2
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"It seems like you've decided!"

??? gave up Evocation.
??? gave up Enchantment.
??? gained School Specialization: Conjuration!
??? gave up a familiar.
??? gained Abrupt Jaunt!
???'s character sheet updated!

"Now, most importantly, what do I call you?"

Chuck Testa

Tuck Chesta

>>487663
Tuck Chesla

>>487736
+1

>>487736
>>487902
+2

Magellan 2013/01/27(Sun)00:59 No. 487927 ID: 2ff0f2
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"Tuck Chesla? A bit odd, but as long as you're happy..."

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/27(Sun)01:00 No. 487928 ID: 2ff0f2
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"I'm glad to meet you, Tuck!"

Campaign Quest Tuck Chesla 2013/01/27(Sun)01:16 No. 487930 ID: 2ff0f2
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Discussion thread here: http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/66591.html

So, you said earlier that being a wizard would make me popular here? How so?

Also, the local fairies bothering you often? Pranksters aren't they?

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/27(Sun)07:43 No. 487978 ID: 2ff0f2
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Magellan gives Tuck an odd look. Tuck decides to have a go at figuring it out.

Magellan's Bluff: ???
Tuck's Sense Motive: 1d20+6 = 14
Failure.

"You're just playing with me, aren't you? No, I see you're not. Sorry you had to see that. Fairies don't really bother me.

"To answer your other question... Now that I think about it, perhaps you should avoid that. Well... It won't be for a while anyway. Yes, once you've acquired a bit of power, you'll be very popular. One of the top men in the city. And I believe you will acquire power. But that's a ways off. Which reminds me! I have something for you."

Magellan snaps his fingers again, and a tome flies to his hands. It has no title.

"This is my gift to you! It's a spellbook I created. You should find it very useful."

Tuck accepts the gift and flips through its pages. Tuck thinks this book must hold every spell ever created. Before getting a fraction of the way through the book, he finds a page he can't decipher. Thanks to his Knowledge (Arcana), he realizes it's a more powerful spell than he can cast, and shuts the book. He feels like he'll need more time and careful study in order to learn spells like that one.

Tuck gained a Spellbook!

Meanwhile, Magellan is beaming.

"I thought you'd like that! Now, I think it's time you went on your first proper adventure! Why don't you use that book to prepare some spells? Then we'll head out."

Tuck feels the dormant power within him, and knows he can prepare 3 cantrips and 1 level 1 spell for the day, plus an additional cantrip and level 1 spell from the Conjuration school.

We are using the pathfinder rules on infinite uses of prepared cantrips, right?

>>/questdis/66629
Conj:
L0: Acid Splash (only available spell... use it for target practice)
L1: Grease
General:
L0: Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Disrupt Undead. (on days you do not plan to leave town prepare instead Prestidigitation, read magic, and detect magic)
L1: Ray of Enfeeblement, Enlarge Person (find a meatshield stat!)

>>488198

I vote for this, but replacing Disrupt Undead with Detect Magic while traveling around out of town as well; it's better to be able to avoid a fight, after all.

Level 0:
- Acid Splash (Bonus)
- Detect Magic
- Ghost Sound
- Prestidigitation

Level 1:
- Color Spray
- Animate Rope
- Obscuring Mist (Bonus)

Experience tells me you never want to be without Detect Magic. Even more so than how you should always have rope.

>>488216
>>488249
I concede the point

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/28(Mon)08:13 No. 488352 ID: 1b550b
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"Very good." Magellan says. "Ready? Oh, your shoes are by the door. Oh again! I almost forgot!"

A bag flies out of the corner and into Magellan's hands. He gives it to Tuck, who opens it to find several pieces of equipment inside.

Tuck gained a light crossbow!
Tuck gained 20 crossbow bolts!
Tuck gained a dagger!
Tuck gained a special coin purse!
Tuck gained 10gp, 20sp, and 30cp!
Tuck's character sheet has been updated!

"Like it? Good, let's go!"

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/28(Mon)08:30 No. 488354 ID: 1b550b
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Magellan puts his hand on Tuck and the world changes. Tuck feels a tugging sensation, as though being pulled through a rubber hose, and realizes he is suddenly standing outside.

The sunlight warms Tuck's skin, and he smiles. He's not sure why, but he likes the warmth. He notices that he's standing on a dirt path at the mouth of a lush forest. The path leads to a village before winding out of sight in the distance. Tuck hears leaves and twigs crack as tiny unseen animals retreat from the sudden appearance of human beings, followed by silence. The scent of vegetation drifts through the air.

"Welcome to the start of your adventure, my boy! Take your time, enjoy yourself! I've heard of problems from that village there, and I think it's the perfect way for you to get started. Of course, teleporting into the middle of a small place like that one tends to scare people, so here we are.

"Oh, one more thing... here!" Magellan hands Tuck a white cloth headband. "If you put this on, you can contact me at any time. Just say my name!"

Tuck gained a magic headband!

"And now it's time for me to go. Good luck! Remember: contact me if you need any help!"

Magellan smiles, and disappears.

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/28(Mon)08:38 No. 488355 ID: 1b550b
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Thanks to his keen Perception, as the old man disappears, Tuck spots a wolf inching forward at the edge of the trees. Realizing it has been spotted, it lowers its ears and growls.

Initiative!
Tuck: 1d20+6 = 11
Wolf: 1d20+2 = 4

Tuck goes first! At the moment, his weapons are still in his bag.

Raise your arms above your head and yell. you'd think that social animals like wolves would be smart enough to avoid people, especially in a world where people can make wolves explode. besides, making your enemies flee is full experience. use color spray to make it shit itself if you have to.

>>488359
if we are gonna try scaring it, why not use ghost sound?
At level 1 we can produce as much noise as 4 humans who are shouting and running. And we can choose for it to be non human sounds too... unfortunately "roaring lion" is considered as loud as 16 human voices so being only level 1 our roaring dragon would have to sound muffled like from far away. Making it a bad choice (it will ignore a "far away" sound like that).

>>488359
A good general idea, though as a caster we can do better by using Ghost Sound to make noise equivalent to four people shouting right in its face. (Ghost Sound is one of my favorite cantrips.)

Scare the wolf with a point-blank Ghost Sound at max volume, but also be ready to NOPE away if it attacks.

On second thought, we should have our Ghost Sound a magnified dog-whistle (which even one person can produce quite loudly from an actual whistle). Horrible to dog ears, but inaudible humans.

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/28(Mon)21:40 No. 488512 ID: 17cec2
File 135943804783.jpg - (236.23KB , 720x690 , C1P11 - Scare the wolf.jpg )

>>488359
>>488367
>>488399

Tuck casts Ghost Sound to imitate 4 men shouting in the wolf's face, and tries to make himself look threatening by flailing his arms above his head and yelling. With his bag still in his hands, he looks a bit more intimidating.

Tuck's Intimidate: 1d20+1+2 (circumstantial bonus) = 18
Wolf's level check: 1d20+3 = 5
Success!

The wolf is confused by the sounds of other people and Tuck's apparent change in size. It is shaken for 1 round. However, it is still driven to fight, and it charges at Tuck, teeth out.

Tuck uses Abrupt Jaunt to disappear from the wolf's path, and reappear 10 feet closer to the town. It's his turn again.

Oh dear. Maybe GREASE the ground between you and the wolf?
Now that I think of it, it would probably better to grease the wolf itself.

That's one dedicated wolf. Does it look rabid? This might justify a color spray.

>>488521
It does, use color spray.
Even a single wolf is nothing to sneeze at for a lone first level mage without companions.

>>488512

Color Spray, ahoy!

Obviously rabid. A healthy wolf would stay the fuck away from a person, especially a mage able and willing to defend himself.

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/29(Tue)22:59 No. 488741 ID: 6e022b
File 135952916041.jpg - (259.34KB , 640x680 , C1P12 - Color Spray.jpg )

Tuck unleashes Color Spray!

Wolf will save: 1d20+??? = 15 - Saved!

Tuck's a bit confused about the white fire. He's pretty sure color spray doesn't-Oh crap the wolf's still standing!

Tuck still has a move action left for the turn. The wolf looks ready to attack him again. His bag is in his right hand.

use move action to grab a weapon from the bag.
Abrupt jaunt away when the wolf is just about to attack.

>>488743
Yeaaaah, prepared action instant actions.
Could we finagle it so that we jump behind it as it charges, so we get an attack of opportunity when it leaves our threatened square?

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/30(Wed)03:28 No. 488765 ID: 062102
File 135954533486.jpg - (246.37KB , 712x648 , C1P13 - Wolf Bite.jpg )

Tuck reaches in and grabs the first weapon he touches, which turns out to be his dagger. He pulls it out as the wolf lunges at him and disappears just in time. Now he stands on the grass 10 feet away from both the path and the wolf.

Tuck's turn.

ray of enfeeblement

Move action toward the town, THEN ray of enfeeblement.

...We're going to use all of our spells on this encounter and end up stabbing it to death anyway, aren't we.

>>488803
At our current level the range on that spell is 25 feet. If we do a move action we will be out of range to cast it.
Even with going all out with our spells we would still be at a big disadvantage. It got lucky on color spray so we couldn't coup de grace it which pretty much screws us.

We don't have to use the full amount of movement. It is entirely possible for him to walk fifteen feet.

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/30(Wed)21:28 No. 489019 ID: b66cc3
File 135961008875.jpg - (178.75KB , 660x520 , C1O14 - RoE at Wolf.jpg )

Tuck moves closer to the town in the event that he needs to escape. It's about 70 feet away now. But to cast a spell he has to have one hand free! Not wanting to let go of his only weapon, he drops the bag. Then...

Bang! Ray of Enfeeblement!

Tuck's touch attack: 1d20+2 = 10 - Miss.

The wolf dodges the ray and then, growling, circles Tuck to get between him and the town.

Tuck Chesla 2013/01/30(Wed)21:28 No. 489020 ID: b66cc3
File 135961011287.jpg - (269.61KB , 720x630 , C1P15 - Wolf Block Path.jpg )

Beyond the wolf, it looks like some people are watching from the edge of town.

Those guys are assholes, and this is not a normal wolf. Acid the wolf, verbally lambast the villagers.

I still think Grease is a better idea than a cantrip. At least it would have the chance for making the thing trip. If it does, we can pick up that bag and then make a break for the town.

Defs supporting the 'yell for help' plan.

>>489046
Lets save grease for running away if we end up just running for it.
>>489025
While tempting, 50% to do 1d3 damage is just too low. you are better off wasting a round grabbing the crossbow and using it instead for 40% 1d8 damage. (knife is 30% 1d4 damage)
Also, conserve your bamfs for now a little.

We still haven't tried the dog whistle idea.

In that case, I think that drawing a weapon can be folded into a moving move action; if we double move toward the town and draw the bow, the odds of getting help increases and we don't get attacked before being able to loose an arrow.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/02(Sat)00:52 No. 489525 ID: 97f0e2
File 135979512822.jpg - (213.44KB , 680x620 , C1P16 - Crossbow Out.jpg )

>>489233

Unfortunately, Tuck's BAB is too low to draw a weapon and move at the same time. He needs a BAB of 1 for that.

"Help!" Tuck calls. The man turns to the boys, and one of them runs into the house.

Tuck reaches into his bag and pulls out the light crossbow and bolts, dropping the dagger into the bag as he does so. A bolt clicks as it's locked into position.

The wolf lunges again, and is again frustrated by Tuck disappearing. Now Tuck is a few feet closer to the town and again off the path.

Alright, well he certainly doesn't have a high enough BAB for a full attack to be any different from a standard action.

Single move away from the wolf, toward the town, and one shot to the (any part).

>>489527
do that

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/03(Sun)08:17 No. 489914 ID: 97f0e2
File 135990824839.jpg - (310.54KB , 720x720 , C1P17 - Shoot Wolf.jpg )

Somehow I started a new thread by accident, so I have moved those posts to this one.

489579 Tuck Chesla 2013/02/02(Sat)07:36 No. 489579 ID: 97f0e2 hide watch expand quickreply [Reply]

Crossbow: 1d20+2 = 19 - Hit!
Damage: 1d8 = 7

A man charges past. Tuck notes he was the same man watching before, only now he has a hammer.

Hammer: 1d20+??? = 24 - Crit!
Crit Confirmation: 1d20+??? = 22 - Confirmed!
Damage: ??? = 12

He smashes in the wolf's head, and it drops to the ground, unmoving.

Tuck gains 190XP!

The man turns to Tuck. Blood drips from the head of his hammer.

"You okay?"

Artyom 2013/02/02(Sat)08:39 No. 489591 ID: 0b214d

>>489579

"Yeah, thanks for the help, sir."

MrTT 2013/02/02(Sat)13:32 No. 489677 ID: a28731

>>489591
+1
also add "Very oddly behaved wolf, do you think it was rabid?"
and collect your stuff.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/03(Sun)08:18 No. 489916 ID: 97f0e2
File 135990829301.jpg - (176.85KB , 720x640 , C1P18 - Meet Griffon.jpg )

"Wouldn't know. But any wild animals'll attack a person if they're bigger than ye, so watch yer back."

"No thanks needed." He says, wiping his hammer off on the grass. "I wouldn't get between a wizard and a wolf, but we don't leave folks hanging if they need help. My name's Griffon. What's yers?"

"Tuck Chesla." Tuck replies, continuing to be polite to the man with the bloodstained hammer.

"Well, Tuck, welcome ta Two Roads Meet. What's yer business?"

Meaning, Tuck translates, what brings you here?

I heard there have been some problems around here recently and came to help.
As well as to find some others adventurous individuals to travel with.

I assure you I am not as bad at being a wizard as I just looked.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/05(Tue)07:19 No. 490537 ID: 97f0e2
File 136007758470.jpg - (249.18KB , 640x620 , C1P19 - Griffon Family.jpg )

>>489944
"Uh huh. Yer just fight better against books than animals?"

>>489924
"Well, good luck. I don't know who'd want ta go with ye, but feel free ta ask around. There's our general store, Merchant's house, Mayor's place, jail, inn, and Healer's place." He points out each in turn.

"I'm a smith, and that's my forge. Boys, come here!" The two boys run over.

"What is it, dad?"

"Meet Tuck Chesla. Tuck, this are my boys, Peregrin and Wolfe. Peregrin, this elf wants ta help us out, so we're going ta take him over ta Mayor's place. But first, we're going ta get him some pants. Ye can't show up in front of our mayor without them. Wolfe, I need ye in the forge." Peregrin looks delighted while Wolfe shuffles back to his father's house.

"Yes!"

"Alright."

"Don't forget yer bag." Griffon says to Tuck, who retrieves it. "Man, it doesn't even have a strap. How do ye carry the thing?"

"Magic!" Peregrin says. "Can you teach me a spell?"

"Don't get carried away, kid. Ya gotta be smart ta learn magic."

"I'm smarter than you!"

"Then how'd ye drop Miss Marosasta's wheel yesterday?"

"I told you that was Wolfe's fault!"

"Uh huh."

Don't wizards get Scribe Scroll as a bonus feat as first level?
We could make him a scroll of grease or something to boost his confidence, you only need an 11 int to cast a first level scroll, after all.

Casting from a scroll has many more requirements that he simply does not meet.
>>/questdis/67126

>>490641
And that's how we can pay for lodging in this town, if we get stuck here. 'Wizard' training!
Although we aren't very good at wizarding yet, we can at least teach a kind how to activate magical items. Peregin is interested enough to spend the skill points, and 'eventually' he'll probably be able to roll the nat twenty he'd need if he had the minimum charisma score, seeing as how he does get a roll every six seconds, and out of combat you have as much time as you need.
>>486694
Also, this is still a quest primarily, so we can do things that are inventive.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/06(Wed)04:35 No. 490806 ID: eca791
File 136015414022.jpg - (327.51KB , 720x720 , C1P20 - Two Roads Meet.jpg )

One long stop at the grocery store later, where Griffon introduces the dwarf Gerarda and talks to her for a while, Tuck has a new pair of pants. Griffon leads him across the street and knocks on the mayor's door.

wait for the mayor

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/07(Thu)05:46 No. 491092 ID: 0c7e41
File 136024479760.jpg - (272.50KB , 720x720 , C1P21 - Mayor.jpg )

"Hey Griffon. Hey Per. Who's the new guy?"

"Elliot, this is Tuck Chesla. Tuck, Elliot Mayor. Tuck wants ta know about adventures around here, so I brought him to ye."

"Suits me fine. I was just having a snack. Why don't you come in and join me?"

"We've gotta get a dead wolf ta Miss Marosasta so she can hide him."

"Shoot, what'd he do to deserve that?"

"No, no, a wild wolf. Ask Tuck about it."

"I see. Well, come on in and have a seat, Tuck. What'll you have to drink?"

water would be fine

Yep. We have enough trouble aiming as it is without being drunk.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/08(Fri)00:24 No. 491334 ID: cffd41
File 136031189024.jpg - (224.79KB , 720x620 , C1P22 - Mayor F2F.jpg )

"Sure... Hm. Weren't you a wood elf a minute ago? You some kind of shape-shifting wizard? Well, that's for the best. See, there's a goblin tribe living close by in that ravine outside town. About once a year for the past fifty years they bring out a magic apple to sell. Now this apple heals anyone who eats it, I mean wounds, disease, anything. And they sell it for about 50gp. Used to be Miss Marosasta would buy it, because she's the only one with that kind of money, and she'd cut it up, sell it for more than she paid, and plant the seeds. Woman's good at making money. Only problem is the saplings only grew about two feet before they disappeared. Damn goblins came and take them in the night, kept her from growing her own.

"So one night Kelan, her husband, stayed up late to guard them. Next morning Miss Marosasta finds him, screams so loud the whole town wakes up.

"Next summer the goblins came back selling another apple, like nothing had happened. I won't forget how Miss Marosasta looked. She wasn't going to buy any more apples after what happened to Kelan.

"But her kids did. Taithor and Ellaia. I could never figure out why, until recently. About a month ago they met up with a few adventurers that came to town and stayed out late themselves. Turns out they'd found the men in another town they visited. They wanted to figure the thing out, so they stayed out late themselves. It was Hell on Miss Marosasta. She didn't stayed awake all night. But they came back safe in the morning, said they were going into the ravine, and wouldn't say anything else until they came back. Nothing Miss Marosasta or I said could change their minds. Their minds were on revenge, you could see it. So they went. We haven't heard from them since.

"Miss Marosasta's pretty shook up about it. It's been a while, but if you could help out, it'd mean the world to her."

Of course I would be willing to help, though I am not sure how much I can do on my own if they did get into trouble.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/09(Sat)11:47 No. 491650 ID: ff5b1b
File 136043925476.jpg - (213.62KB , 720x680 , C1P23 - Men at mayors door.jpg )

"Thanks a lot..."

Elliot is cut off by a knock at the door. Elliot opens it to find two men standing outside, one with an air of authority, the other looking annoyed.

"Hey Pohat. What can I do you for?"

"Mr. Mayor," the one with authority says,"this is Jarison Entot. He stayed at the inn last night and claims his purse has been stolen."

"Alright, gather everyone up."

"Yes, sir."

Pohat and the man leave. Elliot turns to Tuck.

"I need you come outside for a minute. We might a thief in town."

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/09(Sat)11:48 No. 491651 ID: ff5b1b
File 136043929089.jpg - (228.19KB , 680x680 , C1P24 - Townsfolk Gathered.jpg )

Outside Tuck finds a group of people in a half-circle, including Pohat and Jarison Entot, Griffon, Peregrin, and Wolfe.

"Is everyone in town here, Pohat?"

"Yes, sir."

"Hm. Ok everyone, here's the situation. Last night Mr. Entot arrived in town with some money in a purse that I saw him use at Miss Gerarda's store. Today he comes to Pohat and says his purse is missing. Now you kids, did you have anything to do with this?"

Peregrin and Wolfe, as well as a small Aasimar girl, all shake their heads. Griffon puts a hand on each boy's shoulder and squeezes.

"Be honest, boys. This is no laughing matter."

"I know, dad!" Peregrin answers. "We've been in the forge with you working on Mrs. Marosasta's wheel!" Wolfe nods his agreement.

"Jadis, what about you?" The Aasimar man asks.

"Honest!"

"Alright." Elliot continues. "Now I'm assuming Mr. and Mrs. Goody have already searched the inn, is that right?"

"Yes." The Aasimar answers. "We looked everywhere, including through Mr. Entot's bags, and couldn't find it anywhere."

"What about you, Gerarda. Did you check the store?"

"Yes, I made an inventory after Mr. Entot spoke to me."

"Hm..." Elliot says again, frowning. "That's darn strange. Griffon, come over here, I need to ask you something."

Griffon and Elliot move a few feet away and whisper to each other. Tuck tries to make out what they're saying.

Tuck's Perception: 1d20+6 = 12.
Failure.

They return and Elliot continues.

"Tuck, I hate to ask another favor of you, but would you be willing to help us find Mr. Entot's purse? Everyone, this is Tuck Chesla, a shapechanging wizard. He's just arrived in town, which Griffon saw, and couldn't have stolen the purse. Until that purse is found, he's in charge. Got it?"

A chorus of ayes and yeps tells Tuck the others understand and will listen to him.

Challenge! Find the merchant's purse!

First of all lets do a overview of where he last saw his purse and trace his steps from then onwards. He could have dropped it or placed it somewhere and forgotten about it then.

Ask for a description of the purse including size and such, so we know what to look for.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/10(Sun)09:05 No. 491806 ID: e87aa6
File 136051594949.jpg - (13.77KB , 120x120 , C1P25 - Jarison Profile.jpg )

>>491747

"It's about 6 inches tall, made of brown sackcloth, and holds 200gp worth of jasper and bloodstone."

>>491731

"Last night after returning to the inn, I remember putting it in my pack next to my bed. This morning I left my pack together with my other bags in my room, with Mr. Goody's promise that he'd look after them. Then I went to talk to Mrs. Marosasta about some business. When I came back I came back, it was gone. I'm used to robbery attempts, but in a small town like this, I thought I could trust people."

"Now hold on," Elliot replies, "we're still not sure it wasn't just misplaced, and we're going to help you find it. You just have to be a little patient. What do you reckon, Tuck?"

If there was anything magical in the bag, you could try detecting for magic. Offer to cast the spell if it would help.

At some point we should go look at the room to see if we can notice anything there.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/12(Tue)05:59 No. 492240 ID: 6adcb6
File 136067754706.jpg - (13.83KB , 120x120 , C1P25a - Jarison Profile.jpg )

>>492018

"Magic? No, I'm... not trading magic wares today."

Thanks to his Sense Motive Tuck knows Jarison is concealing something. He gets the idea that Jarison never has magic items, because of the cost involved.

what uses do jasper and bloodstone have? Thats an odd ombination to be keep together.

We should next ask Mr. Goody who entered the Inn or has access to the rooms.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/13(Wed)17:09 No. 492580 ID: dbba2e
File 136080418157.jpg - (6.10KB , 48x123 , C1P25b - Goody profile.jpg )

>>492030

"Good idea. Are we all going together?" Elliot asks.

>what uses do jasper and bloodstone have?

"I don't know about magic, but they're useful to me in keeping my purse light when I travel." Jarison answers.

"But not this light, right?" Peregrin says, and sniggers until Griffon cuffs him.

>We should next ask Mr. Goody who entered the Inn or has access to the rooms.

"Well, obviously I and Mrs. Goody and Jadis were there," Goody answers, "and Mr. Entot. Then Pohat and Elliot stopped by too."

couldn't think of anything to do for days, then I woke up with all these ideas today
1. Scan the room with detect magic
2. Search room yourself
3. Look for possible entry through window (either climbing from ground or lower from higher room/roof. (ask who could have done so)
4. What did Mr. Entot., Then Pohat and Elliot do at the inn, did any look like they were hiding something.
5. Since he last looked at it before going to sleep it could have been stolen while he slept by someone quiet, this expands suspect list.
6. He could have forgotten it was actually on his person and taken it to Marosasta's and lost it there/on the way.
7. He could be lying about being stolen from (don't accuse him of that, yet)
8. It could have been some tiny magical creature (like a cat familiar or some such), did he leave the window open at night? is there a hole a rat could crawl through in the room? did anyone see a cat or some other animals walk in alone?

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/23(Sat)05:53 No. 495373 ID: d9c4ba
File 136162760165.jpg - (252.29KB , 692x621 , C1P26 - Inn room.jpg )

"Ok. We'll wait for you out here then." Elliot says.

Tuck goes to check out the Jarison's room. The room is mostly clean, except for some dust on the floor and three bags in the corner. Detect Magic reveals the room is absent of magical auras. Since no one is around, Tuck looks through them. The two large ones contain colorful clothing (which explains where the town get theirs, Tuck realizes). The small one, which looks a bit like a backpack, contains an accounting book (Tuck shuts it out of respect for Jarison's privacy), some papers, stamps, ink, and inkpens. It also has space for a small purse.

The window doesn't look like it opens. The dust on the floor indicates people have been here, but Tuck can't tell anything about the footprints.

Is anything under the bed? What is visible through the window?

If we can't find anything searching here, try asking the innkeeper how long they were up at night managing the inn, and whether they saw anyone enter or leave.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/24(Sun)01:18 No. 495658 ID: cec66c
File 136169750457.jpg - (309.29KB , 830x712 , C1P27 - Under Bed.jpg )

>>495392

Nothing under the bed...

Check the pillow and mattress just to be sure. Then we go to question the others who were at the inn. Mr. and Mrs. Goody next, ask what they were doing during the time he was out. Why did the other's visit, did they go near the rooms at all etc.

I also assume Mrs. Goody cleans up, does she change the bedding at all? Perhaps the bag got caught in the dirty laundry.

Then we question Pohat and Elliot. Ask them the same sort of questions, why did they visit the inn, did they approach the rooms, did they see Mr and and Mrs Goody go near them while they were there.

Question each of the people seperately. Compare notes.

What is visible through the window?

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/24(Sun)19:53 No. 495826 ID: cec66c
File 136176442881.jpg - (305.42KB , 720x750 , C1P28 - Inn Room Window.jpg )

Through the window Tuck sees the forest from which he came, as well as what looks like a fissure that spans rightward as far as he can see.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/24(Sun)19:57 No. 495830 ID: cec66c
File 136176466344.jpg - (236.54KB , 680x680 , C1P24a - Townsfolk talking.jpg )

>Check the pillow and mattress just to be sure.

Tuck checks, but doesn't find anything.

Having found out everything he can about the room, Tuck goes back outside where everyone waits for him.

>What did Mr. Entot., Then Pohat and Elliot do at the inn, did any look like they were hiding something.

"Well," Elliot answers, "I went by this morning and had breakfast with Neul, the innkeeper, his wife Aedai, and Mr. Entot. I stayed for a few hours, then headed over to the store for lunch."

"I stopped by for lunch, then headed back to the jail." Pohat says. "A few minutes after you got here, then Mr. Entot came rushing into the jail telling me about how someone stole his purse. Then we visited you boys."

"Those are both correct." Neul says. "Mr. Entot arrived yesterday and stayed the night. We traded with him for some new clothes yesterday, and had breakfast with him this morning. He left soon after to visit Ms. Marosasta, then returned right after you arrived this afternoon. He was in his room for a few minutes before rushing out, I guess to see Mr. Entot. Oh, nobody was hiding anything that I could tell."

"Of course not. It wouldn't be good business." Jarison says.

>did anyone see a cat or some other animals walk in alone?

Everyone answers in the negative.

"We don't have any pets around here, but it's possible one came around." Elliot says.

>how long they were up at night managing the inn, and whether they saw anyone enter or leave.

"I was only up a little past sundown." Neul answers. "We tend to turn in early. But the only person who entered last night was Mr. Entot."

"I ought to add that I met Mr. Entot yesterday when he arrived in town." Elliot says. "He was the only person to come by, near as I could tell, and we had dinner together at the store."

>>495659

"I usually do the cooking, and can work up some remedies when needed." Aedai says. "I made breakfast as usual, then dishes, as normal, and started cleaning with Jadis. I did clean up Mr. Entot's room, but I usually wait to change the bedding until after our guests leave."

"Besides, we wouldn't toss his purse in the laundry!" Jadis says. Neul motions for her to be quiet.

>>Then we question Pohat and Elliot. Ask them the same sort of questions, why did they visit the inn, did they approach the rooms, did they see Mr and and Mrs Goody go near them while they were there.

"Nope, I didn't go near Mr. Entot's room." Elliot says. "I didn't see Neul go near there either. I don't know about Aedai, she and Jadis were cleaning."

"I didn't go near the room either." Pohat says.

Tuck's Sense Motive 1d20+6 = 26
Pohat's Bluff 1d20+? = ?
Success!

Pohat is lying.

It would be best if we could lure him into a contradiction. Smile at him toothily.
"Are you don't want to revise your statement, Mister Pohat? Could you describe your activities in more detail?"

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/28(Thu)06:18 No. 496784 ID: b26699
File 136206112437.jpg - (88.74KB , 320x400 , C1P24b - Townsfolk talking.jpg )

"Whoa! Are you trying to accuse Pohat of taking that guy's purse?" Jadis exclaims. "What about you, Mr. I-just-got-into-town-before-the-purse-went-missing?"

"Jadis-" Her mother says.

"And why do you all trust him, huh? Why isn't Pohat going into his room and investigating instead of some random stranger? Why?"

"Jadis, be quiet! He's a wizard!" Her father commands. She closes her mouth, but glares at Tuck, who feels a little embarrassed. No one speaks.

"All right, Jadis, everyone," Elliot says, "I know this is rough, but we've got to figure this out. We've all been here for a long time, and I don't think anyone is a thief. We just have to figure out what happened, and Mr. Tuck is the best person for the job because he's a smart guy and he knows how to figure things out. If we work together, we can figure this out. We just need to put up with it a little bit longer."

The group murmurs acceptance of Elliot's words. Jadis isn't directly glaring at Tuck, but still seems edgy. So does Pohat.

"Pohat, will you continue?" Elliot asks.

"Ok. I woke up this morning and visited Ms. Gerarda, and we talked for awhile. Then I went back to the jail to make sure everything was in order. Then I went to the Goody's place for lunch, stayed awhile, and then went back to the jail again. I just gotten settled in when Mr. Entot came rushing in telling me about how his purse had been stolen, then we visited you. Is that what you wanted to know?"

What kept you in the inn after you ate lunch? You mentioned you stayed a while.

Tuck Chesla 2013/02/28(Thu)18:33 No. 496933 ID: 5ced09
File 136210519939.jpg - (78.32KB , 300x370 , C1P24c - Townsfolk talking.jpg )

>>496800
"I was talking with him." Neul answers. "We usually sit around and talk for awhile after lunch."

"We were talking about a man arrested the next town over, in case you want to know." Pohat says.

"Which has nothing to do with my missing money!" Jarison says. "Mr. Chesla, I've heard you're a wizard and I respect that, but this is getting nowhere. Please tell me you have an idea of where my purse is."

Unfortunately Mr Jarison my magic doesn't allow me to scry out the past. I have to rely on deduction and the testimonies of the people you see here. The only thing i've learned so far is that Pohat lied when he said he did not go near your room. I do not know why and I do not know if he had anything to do with your missing purse. At the moment he is my strongest lead.

>>496937
Maybe it would be better to say that we have a strong intuition that Poehat his hiding something about entering the room than outright saying he lied.

>>496948
Agreed, thus:
Unfortunately I do not have a spell for scrying out the past. Instead I have to rely on deduction and the testimonies of the people you see here. A large conspiracy with well coordinated tales is unreasonable and unlikely in this case, there is no evidence of any outsider sneaking off with it, and the stories are consistent so if someone here is the thief they can concoct a proper lie.

Those consistent stories place several specific people near the scene and I had hoped by asking for more details from the most likely candidates I would catch one of them in a lie, but doing it in front of everyone it came off too accusatory. We have suspects but not proof.

The question is then, how do we proceed from here. I could continue to grill people in ever greater detail and hope to catch someone in a lie. But that would be far less effective now that I have explained it, people could be lying for reasons other then to cover up the crime, and had I not explained it I wouldn't be allowed to do so as I am not sufficiently trusted and it seemed like I am rendering false accusations.

We could start searching for the wallet at plausible locations of the most likely suspects, but that would involve violating people's privacy.
We could send off for a cleric capable of casting a zone of truth spell. But that will take time, might be expensive, and its possible for it to not work.

Ultimately it is up to you how and where we proceed.

Tuck Chesla 2013/03/24(Sun)07:14 No. 502146 ID: c45f17
File 136413449004.jpg - (285.57KB , 720x660 , C1P29 - Run.jpg )

>>501591

"That's alright." Elliot says. "We can just check with Neul. Neul, weren't you with Pohat the whole time?"

"Yes." Neul answers, then raises a finger. "Except for when I washed dishes."

"Ok..." Elliot says. "Pohat, remember the password?"

"Oh, shoot, I forgot it." He says.

Silence.

Then Pohat takes off running toward the forest.

"He's gonna get away!" Jadis shouts. Griffon and Wolfe jump at him, but miss. Griffon curses.

"Tuck, help!" Elliot says.

We have exactly ONE spell left, and it makes people fall over.

Grease, directly under him.
Well, move action toward him first, then cast. Short range, blarh.

>>502157
So it is. Grease is an excellent spell in general.

>"Pohat, remember the password?"
Either he is very well prepared for some reason, or he is very good at quick thinking and bluffing.

>>502157
Great minds do think alike; move then grease him.
Yell "give chase" as you start running after him to make sure that if/when he does fall down you actually manage to subdue him.

Tuck Chesla 2013/03/25(Mon)08:03 No. 502300 ID: d13b4c
File 136422382542.jpg - (209.08KB , 620x600 , C1P30 - Tackle.jpg )

>"give chase"

Tuck rushes after Pohat, preparing his magic. At the edge of town he unleashes the spell.

Despite having the element of surprise, Pohat is still within range.

Pohat's Reflex Save: 15 - Failure

He slips as the grease appears beneath him. Griffon and Wolfe tackle the fallen man.

Tuck Chesla 2013/03/25(Mon)08:05 No. 502303 ID: d13b4c
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After a half-minute of wrestling, they drag him to his feet.

"Whoa!" Peregrin says, coming up behind you. "You're covered in slimy stuff, yuck!"

"It'll disappear in a minute or so, er, right Tuck?" Elliot asks, right behind Peregrin. "Shoot, what would Pohat say? Check him! Does he have anything on him?"

Griffon holds Pohat while Wolfe searches him.

"Yeah, both of these!" He says, and tosses two objects to Elliot. One is a sap, the other a brown sackloth purse.

Tuck gains 375XP!
Tuck gains a level up point!
Tuck notices light coming from his pack.

"Good job, men!" Elliot continues. "And it looks like Griffon owes Pohat a beer. Two beers, since you called it in already."

"Like I'll pay the derk now." Griffon says, as Elliot returns the purse to Jarison.

"Thank you." Jarison says.

"Why'd ye do it, Pohat?" Griffon continues.

"That's not him." Elliot says. "Pohat came up with the password, he'd never forget it. What's actually going on here?"

With the last words, he looks Pohat in the eye, but the man remains silent.

"Fine. Put him in the jail. We can send him to Draroth next time a guard comes through. Tuck, can you tell us if magic is behind this? It looks like Pohat, but it's sure not."

At the name Draroth, Pohat's eyes bulge.

"Wait!" He says. "Don't send me there. I was attacked by bandits from Draroth, and they'd surely kill me if I ever set foot in that place! I'm sorry I stole from you, I was just trying to get enough to get me to the next city. I can help you! You need someone for some task, right? Take me, I won't run. I didn't mean any harm. The real Pohat's fine, I didn't hurt him!"

After this outburst, everyone tries to speak at once with confusing results until Elliot raises his hands for silence.

"Where is he?" Elliot asks.

"On the jail roof." The impersonator says.

"Check it out, Neul." Elliot says. Neul leaves, taking Peregrin and his family with him. "And lets move this conversation indoors."

The group heads toward the jail. Once there, Griffon and Wolfe store the man in a cell that looks as though it is cleaned regularly.

"He's here!" Peregrin shouts. "Ms. Aedai's taking care of him, then we'll bring him down."

"Good." Elliot says, turning to the impersonator.

"Wait here." Then he leads Tuck outside.

"Tuck, you've done us a favor. None of us noticed that Pohat wasn't himself. That man would have really gotten away if you hadn't been here, and then our reputation would have shot to Baator. Reputation is everything around here. Now, you said you needed assistance, right? Well, I'm a man of honor, and so I'm going with you."

"Sure ye are." Griffon says from the doorway. "Ye can't do magic and ye ain't strong. What help are ye going to be? Ye'd just get killed, and we can't let ye do that, especially with Godfrey here. Ye need me."

"Griffon," Elliot looks conflicted. "you have kids too."

"I intend to come back to them." Griffon says. "Wolfe and Peregrin can handle the forge while I'm gone, and at least I know how to use a hammer. Will ye have me, Tuck?"

Well, I don't think he showed up on Detect Magic (unless we missed scanning everyone with it during the minute it was active) so the impersonator probably wasn't magical. He might be an inherent shapeshifter, like a doppleganger, but otherwise he's probably a normal person with an extremely good disguise. Some make-up, a wig, you know.

Anyway, we might as well have you come with us, Griffon. We're heading over to Miss Marosasta's, and it'd be quite the hassle to drag that wolf by ourselves. Also, Safety in Numbers, at least from random wolves that decide that a wizard looks delicious.

remember to check our pack once we have a moment.

Tuck Chesla 2013/04/03(Wed)23:25 No. 503795 ID: 4fc6c4
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>>502312
Tuck checks his bag. The headband he got from Magellan is shining. He also notices one of his coin purses seems bigger than before, and inside finds a bunch of amber.

"Someone to watch your back is always a good thing to have around when you're doing obnoxiously dangerous things like adventuring. However, I have something of a patron, who is capable of communicating with me from far away, and I wouldn't want to drag you into trouble if they've already solved that issue in a better way."

>>504165
Solved what issue?
As far as I can tell they are offering to adventure with us, we need a fighter as we are a controller not a damage dealer. (I am reading the logs now to better decide on who to invite).
Another option is to convince them to let us bring the thief with us, as he also made an offer

Tuck Chesla 2013/06/02(Sun)17:56 No. 514151 ID: c67a1f
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>>502305
Tuck leaves the goes to the merchant's house. A bell dingles as he steps through the door, and he steps into a room filled with paintings, wooden figurines, metal goods, and different cloths. The gnomish woman that Tuck saw outside steps through a doorway, sees Tuck, and sits down on one of the chairs.

"Mr. Tuck Chesla, what can I do for you?" She asks. "You've certainly earned something."

I think we need supplies for our quest to rescue these guys from the goblin. We should check with Griffin to see what we already have, then make sure to have things like food, torches, and rope.

Well, this is a good place to get some essentials made of metal apparently.
How about a lantern? Bulls-eyes are always a good thing to have on hand, and in a pinch can negate the dreaded Rust Eater.
And, from the fabrics, I'd guess this is a good place to get a silk rope.

Additionally, we could see if she could appraise these chunks of amber for us. If they're worth enough, we could use them in bartering for goods.

Tuck Chesla 2013/06/07(Fri)17:52 No. 515104 ID: d273c9
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Tuck feels like being prepared is a good thing, and decides to check with Griffon and Marosasta to see what supplies he can stock for the journey. Since he's in the trader's house anyway, he decides to start here.

"What do you have in the way of adventuring supplies?" He asks, while pulling the gems out of his bag. "And what can I get with these?"

"Those are some nice gems." Marosasta says. "You helped us out. I'll give you a fair price for them: 300gp worth in trade. Now what sort of adventuring supplies are you looking for?"

"Whatever you have. Food, torches, lanterns, especially a bulls-eye lantern... silk rope?"

Marosasta's eyes widen at the mention of lanterns.

"Are you from the city?" She asks "Are you here to rescue my children?"

Tuck has no idea what she's talking about. Marosasta seems to note the confused expression on his face, and casts her eyes downward.

"Never mind. Sorry, I mistook you for someone else. It's just... I've been waiting a long time." She heads into a side room. Tuck starts to follow and stumbles over something. Then he realizes the thing he stumbled over was his coat, and that he's shrunk about 2 feet.

Marosasta gives a small laugh from the doorway.


"I can get you some clothes too, if you want." By holding the coat tight, Tuck is able to make his way into the side room without tripping. It has some items for adventurers covered in a layer of dust: a backpack, bedrolls, blankets, candles, a crowbar, flasks, a hammer, some inkpens, rope, some common lamps, some flasks of oil, paper and parchment, pitons, a rope, some sacks, a sewing needle, a signal whistle, soap, some torches, a waterskin and a whetstone. Tuck guesses the dust is about a month old.

"We don't get adventurers much around here, so I don't keep much." Marosasta says, in a dull voice. "But what I have is good. There's some firewood and a ladder outside, plus some long poles. I have dried meat in another room, if you'd like that too."